Road to Sanity

I am a psychiatric nurse. In school to get my Doctorate in Nursing Practice to be a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. I went to the University of Florida and now studying at Rush University (online). I decided to begin a travel nursing...

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I love my recruiter and my travel nurse agency. They sent me a selfie stick! What a perfect gift for travelers!!!

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Kris Krissy

Name given to me by a patient with schizophrenia that is much older and speaks in a very childlike way. Also has a reputation for using food and telephones in...inappropriate...ways.

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So I don't mean to make fun of your eye patch, but if you get a parrot and a hat you would look like a pirate!

A sincere moment with a very delusional Patient to the doctor with an eye patch...also this doctor is awesome haha

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I cut hair now...

Last week we admitted a patient who came on the unit EXTREMELY disheveled. With her illness of schizophrenia, she stopped taking her meds and in turn... she had stopped taking care of herself for a couple of months.

Hair was insanity. Birds nest. I don’t even know how to describe it!

She isolates in her room mostly and she will not shower or let us brush her hair. It has been my mission to fix her hair since I've seen her. 

I had some down time today and she is not my patient...but I went right on in her room and said..

“We are going to brush your hair.”

"I can't do it myself?" 

 "No ma'am" 

And Lo and behold she let me. However.... Her hair was a complete lost cause. I massage so much conditioner through which did NOTHING. The knots were so close to her scalp. I know it was painful having that brushed and I felt so bad. 

"Can we just cut it all off?" 

"Um well...do you want the bald look?" 

"No, not the bald look...just cut it all off." Oh buddy. 

This was my first time giving a haircut. Ever. I cut it right above all the knots and was so filled with so much joy with how the comb went right through her hair. I swear there was glue in her hair. Now this is a patient that had no expression, no tone, just says yes or no (mostly no) and says very short phrases and rarely looks at anyone in the eye. 

I said "oh you smell like coconut"....and she actually laughed. 

Yes. I take amusement in these kinds of things. And that's the story of my first haircut.

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Patriots day

A Maine thing...the day the shot was heard round the world

learn something new everyday

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"Oh my word!"

A Maine thing????

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Toadie

I gave a nickname to one of my patients last week: Toadie. I won't tell you his real name for HIPAA purposes. But I wrote this name in his room on a whiteboard where it has a spot for "I prefer to be called:..." 

He forgot I did this and apparently while half asleep, the night nurse was like... “soooo you like to be called Toadie?”

Ha! It was awesome. I pretty much called him that the rest of the stay. I told him when he leaves he should get a tattoo of a toad. He left today and he said he would.

“I have it planned out of where I’m gonna put it, and I know who I’m gonna get it done by.”

He said he would send a picture when he gets it done next month. Crossing my fingers! He told me that I made a really huge impact on his stay here. More than anything my patients always make an bigger impact on me. Hopefully I'll get to post this toad!

[flydelis]

Working overtime as a tech today!

Pretty stoked to not be lugging a giant computer around. And I get to be in the high acuity area to watch TV or fend off a patient’s sexual comments that I can barely understand because he garbles. And I got an awesome nice sleep! 

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My experience thus far.

From a Facebook status I wrote.

“Receiving some seriously out of this world evaluations from coworkers, management, and most importantly patients. But I had to decline their request to extend. Travel nursing is possibly the best decision I've ever made for myself. Excited for the next adventure. I genuinely feel like I'm leaving an imprint on the lives of people I interact with everywhere I go. There cannot be a better feeling than this. I fucking love what I do and I am so fucking blessed to have this gift. I want to share my light everywhere!!!! How many people can say they genuinely found their calling and get monetary compensation for it! Fuck! This is like all anyone wants in life!!!!”

It has been such a nice break coming here from all the clutter I was finding myself in work wise previously. The community here is tiny, but it really amazes me how kind and welcoming everyone is here. I have mentioned to a few people about how I could not stay here for a prolonged amount of time as it is not the type of place I would see myself settling down in (too small!). However it is definitely the place where I belong right now. The usual distractions are not here, every thing is at a slower pace. It is a “stop and smell the roses” type of atmosphere, and exactly what I needed in my life.

I am SO extremely proud of myself for starting this adventure, I drove up here with my 2 cats and it is the farthest and longest I have ever been away from my comfort zone. With the job position I have here, I continue to learn that my career path is exactly where I am walking. I have learned a lot about myself here, and I have learned a lot from my patient population. The lessons they give me... I cannot wait to bring to where ever life brings me next.

Most importantly I must say that in stripping myself of my usual comforts, I am truly beginning to see what happiness is. It is something that I create for myself. If I had not taken this step I don’t think I would have realized the true power I have to do so.  

Life has been a long journey and I look forward to the journey ahead. For the first time in my (adult) life, I think I am starting to get beneath the surface so that I can see the person that I have wanted to become since I was a kid. I am going to give myself all of the credit in the world for what I have accomplished mentally and emotionally.

I am grateful for all the “bad” days the good days, all my small to giant bumps in the road. There are going to be many more horrible and joyous days ahead of me. And I look forward to conquering them all!

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I think there was an article out about how angry Mainers are with this year's weather

People behind me at a restaurant

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Ice has melted!

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Making my way through some more local brews. Gotta love their logo

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Taking a well deserved break at work. They have this lovely outside area. So nice outside

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The lovely Miranda with her lovely concoction at the Gin Mill. And a new Scottish beer for me!

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Teehee joined the arts and crafts group at work...and made an elephant with some modeling clay type stuff and a pinecone

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ITS SUNNY AND WARM I AM WEARING SHORTS AND A TANK AND TAKING A WALK. OMG THIS IS AMAZING!!!